Where The Fence Is The Highest

All About Jazz

Where the Fence Is the Highest consists of two multi-part suites. “Japan Suite” opens with a wordless lament sung by singer Fuensanta Méndez Lecomte that sets the tone for the subsequent sections. Structured around the progress of the seasons, and inspired by the historical European encounter with Japan in the 19th century that was expressed as “Japonism” in the visual arts, the four sections evoke the changing moods of summer, fall, winter and spring, in subtle shadings of harmony and dynamics. In “Winter,” pianist Xavi Torres builds an current of tension under vocalist Méndez’s plaintive text recital. As Temey’s guitar and Nicoló Ricci’s tenor sax weave counter-lines against the piano, that musical tension—a kind of suspended motion—is dispelled when, in “Spring,” the melody returns, just as the season of renewal returns the sun to an ice-bound landscape. The collective arising of the ensemble, brings “Japan Suite” to a joyous conclusion.

In his guitar part writing, Semey integrates the instrument fully into the ensemble. As a soloist, he values tone production and coherence of melodic lines over flashy technical displays and virtuoso gestures. Soloing only briefly at the opening and closing of the “Japan Suite” opens more space for pianist Torres and saxophonist Ricci. Semey is an accomplished player, and his willingness to play inside, rather than over, the ensemble, affirms a musical maturity. There are echoes of guitar luminaries Jim Hall, John Abercrombie and Terje Rypdal in Semey’s solos, and some similarity of intention to the Brad Shepik album Human Activity Suite on Songlines.

Mark Werlin - Source